Tax Technology- Bringing Agile To Tax

MARIE HIBBERT, DIRECTOR OF TAX TECHNOLOGY, NEXTERA ENERGY, INC.

MARIE HIBBERT, DIRECTOR OF TAX TECHNOLOGY, NEXTERA ENERGY, INC.

What if I told you there was a way for your tax department to deliver continuous value, increase efficiency, and implement tools and technologies on time and on budget? The tax function is always dealing with competing priorities. Managing compliance deadlines, ongoing audits, financial deadlines, planning and forecasting, and M&A activities can often leave the tax team feeling overwhelmed. How can tax departments find the time to implement new tools and technologies to enable their team to survive or even thrive? What methodology can be used to ensure the delivery of effective solutions in a timely fashion? Agile.

Waterfall vs. Agile

Prior to 2000, most projects were implemented using the waterfall methodology. Waterfall, at a high level, breaks down a project into a series of linear steps. Movement forward is dependent on the completion of the steps before. This is great if you are building a house or constructing a bridge. However, for knowledge-based solutions (e.g., software or automations), waterfall falls short. In a waterfall project, the scope is often fixed while time and cost are variable. In Agile, time and cost are fixed, and scope is variable.

“Wait!” you may say. How can scope change? In delivery of knowledge-based tools, often features and functionalities that are “nice to have,” but not truly necessary are requested. A fancy user interface or a report that no one ever uses. Agile focuses on delivering exactly what the end user requires to accomplish their goals in the timeframe allotted.

For instance, perhaps your team is building a state apportionment solution.

The first step is to create “user stories” to define all the features and functionalities that the end user needs. An example user story might be “as a program manager, I need a report that shows me apportionment by state for all jurisdictions.” After all the user stories are created, the product owner ranks the features in order of priority. The Agile team tackles the project by order of priority and meets with the product owner throughout the development cycle. Thus, allowing for value delivery and feedback continually throughout the process.

Key Terms

Sounds wonderful, you may be thinking, but what in the world is a product owner? Here are some key terms that may help you on your Agile journey.

Product Owner–A product owner is part of the Agile team and defines the user stories and prioritizes the stories throughout the process. This avoids a common problem with all projects— asking for a tire swing and getting back a hammock.

User Story–A description of a feature or function needed by the end user of the tool.

Sprint Planning–A meeting of the Agile team to determine what stories will be worked on and delivered during the next sprint.

Sprint–A specific amount of time (e.g., two weeks) in which the Agile team delivers a specific amount of work.

Sprint Retrospective–A review of the success of the sprint and identification of any areas of improvement.

StandUp Ceremony–A daily standup where the team reviews what they did since the last stand up, what they are going to do today, and any impediments.

Backlog–Collection of user stories identified and defined by the product owner and team.

Starting the Journey

One of the biggest hurdles of moving to Agile might be convincing leadership. Often, I still hear– “Where is the Gannt chart?” or “Where is the project plan?” Switching methodologies may take some change management and patience. As you transition, you might find yourself leveraging a bit of a hybrid, what I call the “Watergile” methodology. This generally means projects are running in an Agile fashion, but the team is still producing reports that are more familiar (e.g., Gantt charts). Eventually, as projects continue to be delivered on time and on budget, the reliance on old reports and old methodologies will change. One of the greatest benefits of utilizing Agile is the ability to adapt and change quickly according to changing priorities or demands. Rapid adaptability keeps a business at the forefront of the constantly changing tax landscape.